The Right-Wing Plot to Undermine Science in Public Schools

From Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/education/154246/the_right-wing_plot_to_undermine_science_in_public_schools/

Leaked documents reveal a right-wing think-tank's plans to undermine the teaching of climate science -- and defund public education in the process.

By Katherine Stewart

February 24, 2012

Last week, climate science watchers confirmed what they already knew about the climate science “skepticism” of the Heartland Institute – a “free-market” think-tank previously known for taking money from tobacco companies to question the health risks of second-hand smoke.

As leaked documents now make clear, some of the Institute’s most prominent donors have a strong financial interest in sowing doubts about climate science. These documents also show that providing critical insight on humanity’s scientific knowledge matters far less to the group than running a lobbying and communications business aimed at undermining public confidence in science. (Although the details concerning the circumstances of the leak are the subject of much ongoing debate, the substance of the information revealed is not in dispute.)

Yet the most interesting revelation from the leaks may actually be the Heartland Institute’s intention to inflict its views on America’s public school students. According to the same internal documents, the Institute is currently investing in developing a curriculum for public school students beginning in Grade 6 – the principal aim of which is to create the illusion that “there is major controversy over whether or not humans are changing the weather.”

The Heartland Institute’s methods will be familiar to anyone acquainted with the ongoing efforts to burden the teaching of biology with creationism (or what is now called intelligent design). In both cases, the phrases “teach the controversy,” and “encourage critical thinking” serve as cover for initiatives whose real purpose is to discredit the science in favor of a “theory” that has nothing to do with science.

As a matter of principle, of course, there is no necessary or logical connection between promoting creationism in public schools and doing the same for climate science skepticism. As a matter of practice, however, it turns out that the two projects have much more in common than their rhetoric.

Continue reading at: http://www.alternet.org/education/154246/the_right-wing_plot_to_undermine_science_in_public_schools/